Every website is built using code. In particular, Web Developers rely upon HTML and CSS to build the user interface you see and interact with whenever you browse the internet. Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is a language used to build a website's basic framework, and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) adds styling elements.
Without these two web development languages, you wouldn’t be able to interact with the web!
Like with other languages, you can find frameworks for HTML and CSS, including Bootstrap, HTML5 Boilerplate, and Foundation, among others. These frameworks enable users to get started building responsive sites quickly. Below, we offer more details about HTML and CSS's specific features, including who uses these languages and how you can learn them yourself.
Features of HTML and CSS
While web developers rely upon HTML and CSS to build sites, they each serve a specific and unique function. To be successful in developing websites, it is thus necessary to learn each of these languages — you simply can’t build a functional and attractive website without both HTML and CSS. Below, we share details on the primary uses and features of each of these codes for building websites.
HTML
Hypertext Markup Language serves as the foundational structure for sites. When you visit a website, your browser (whether you use Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari) reads what are known as “tags,” created through HTML. In doing so, your browser knows how to display information like the overall layout of a page and its content, including headings, tables, graphics, images, paragraphs, and headings.
More specifically, HTML uses elements to define specific components of a website. These elements are enclosed by the tags, which indicate the specific role an element is meant to play. For example, if you wanted to create a paragraph of writing, you would enclose that content using paragraph tags (<p> and </p>).
Because HTML creates the basic framework for all websites, it is typically the first language anyone interested in front end web development learns. Only after learning how to use HTML should individuals move on to CSS.
CSS
If you’ve ever worked with HTML code before, you know it doesn’t create an awe-inspiring look right off the bat. Websites aren't particularly visually appealing without CSS. This language adds styling elements such as font, font size, color, lists, icons, and other display components. Additionally, CSS defines how a website is displayed across devices, whether you’re viewing a site from a desktop computer, tablet, or mobile device.
CSS is used in tandem with HTML and saved in what’s known as style sheets or external .css files. These style sheets define how a website should display each element of a website. A massive perk of CSS is that its style sheets are relatively easy to maintain.
Because the sheets are saved in an external file, they can also be used and applied to multiple different HTML pages. In other words, a web developer could use the same style sheet on multiple websites (for example, a parent company and its subsidiaries).
Who Uses HTML and CSS?
Because HTML and CSS serve as the foundation for web development, individuals who are skilled in these and other web development languages are needed at just about any organization that maintains a website. This includes both large corporations and small, family-owned businesses.
For example, Front End Web Developers use HTML and CSS to build and maintain websites on behalf of their employers. In addition to these codes, Web Developers are also typically familiar with languages like JavaScript, which adds interactively and dynamism to sites and basic user experience and user design principles. Individuals in web development roles include salaried professionals and freelance developers who complete work on a client-by-client basis.
Full Stack Developers must also know how to code with HTML and CSS. In addition to these front end languages, Full Stack Developers learn back end languages like Python, Java, and Ruby. Knowing these languages enables developers to work on both the front end of websites (what visitors see when pulling up a web page) and the server-side of sites.
Small business owners might also use HTML and CSS to build and design websites for their businesses. In doing so, they can better advertise their products and services to potential customers and create online shops to sell products. This also means they can save the money that a third-party developer would charge. Alternatively, they may choose to hire a freelance web developer so they can focus on some of the other duties involved with running a business.
Learn HTML and CSS
If you’re interested in learning HTML and CSS, you might consider enrolling in a hands-on course. NYIM offers interactive web development classes both virtually and in-person in New York City through its partner school, Noble Desktop.
Noble’s Intro to HTML and CSS is a three-hour introductory course that provides a basic foundation in HTML and CSS. In this course, students learn how to use HTML, including how to format different elements of a website (paragraphs, headings, and lists) and add images and links within a site. After introducing HTML, instructors move on to teaching students how to style a site with CSS.
If you particularly enjoy learning HTML and CSS, you might consider enrolling in a Web Development Level 1 class through Noble Desktop, a partner school of NYIM. This is a more extensive course that covers both HTML and CSS topics, including how to make a website responsive so that it looks good no matter what size screen (or device) you’re using.
Noble Desktop’s Front End Web Development Certificate provides another way to learn HTML and CSS. This bootcamp-style course meets for four weeks full-time or four months part-time and teaches students how to build responsive websites. In addition to HTML and CSS, this class also teaches individuals how to use WordPress for building websites.
Here, you can learn more about other web development classes offered through NYIM and Noble Desktop. Some of these classes enable you to build upon existing skills by learning other languages that are helpful for web development, including JavaScript and Python.